Project Zomboid B42.19 Rain Collector: Recipes, Plumb Sink, Safe Water

Vanilla Build 42.19 · four outdoor collectors · 400 L / 600 L · Pipe Wrench plumb · treat rain as tainted

Rain collector Outdoors carpentry

Planks 4 small · 6 large

Nails 4 small · 5 large

Garbage Bags 4 bags, either size

Tarp 1 tarp replaces bags

Hammer Kept; other hammers OK

Pipe Wrench Plumb fixtures

Purify tablets Vanilla chemical option

Quick-Start (B42.19)

1. Loot liner materials early: either four garbage bags or one tarp, plus planks, nails, a hammer (or any accepted hammer tool), and a pipe wrench. Bags are common in kitchens, dumpsters, and commercial backrooms; tarps often come from outdoor / camping loot and replace the four-bag liner entirely.
2. Raise Woodwork to 3 for the small crate, or 5 for the large barrel. Recipes sit under the Outdoors / carpentry build flow—read the live tooltip for your client.
3. Place outdoors under open sky (a roof tile that still counts as outside is fine). Enclosed rooms and roofed overhangs do not collect rain.
4. Optional: plumb a sink with the pipe wrench once a collector sits above an indoor fixture. Confirm fill/drink draws from storage.
5. Treat barrel water as unsafe until boiled or tablet-purified. Plumbing does not clean the fluid.

Build 42.19 collector recipes

Four outdoor recipes share the same two sizes: garbage-bag liner or tarp liner for the small crate and large barrel. They sit under Outdoors carpentry. The skill gate is Woodwork (still labeled carpentry in many UIs).

Rain factor multiplies how fast rain enters an exposed collector—it is not “percent of capacity per second.” The small crate’s higher factor (0.4) fills faster relative to the large barrel (0.25), even though the barrel stores more. Large barrels support an open/closed lid toggle; leave the lid open when you want rain and close it when you want to stop collecting.

Liner choice: garbage bags are still a common bottleneck when you need four at once, but they are not the only path. One tarp unlocks the same capacities and skill gates. Prefer tarp recipes when bags are scarce; use bags when you loot a full set in one sweep.

Placement: why a barrel fills nothing

Collectors only gather when the square is outside under open sky. Indoor tiles, fully enclosed rooftop rooms, and solid overhangs do not count as rain exposure.

• Prefer stairs for repeat roof trips; sheet ropes work but punish panic sprints.
• Clear zombies before roof work—fall damage ends more “water projects” than thirst does.
• Stage materials one floor below the roof access, then place collectors one at a time.
• Build a second collector when you can: capacity gaps matter more than perfect single-barrel efficiency.

How many barrels? Treat counts as planning, not hard rules. Solo runs usually stay comfortable with two collectors and a purified bottle reserve; two players cooking/cleaning a lot often want three or more. Drought length, cooking volume, and washing habits swing the real number more than a fixed “2–3 barrels” slogan.

Plumbing with a Pipe Wrench

After (or before) city water fails, indoor fixtures can use an outdoor collector as their water source. The Plumb action needs a Pipe Wrench in main inventory. Output quality matches the source: tainted rain at the barrel stays tainted at the tap.

Reliable layout (start here)

1. Place a collector on a higher floor above the fixture—same tile is the conservative default that most bases use first.
2. Keep the fixture indoors (enclosed walls/roof so the tile is not treated as outside).
3. Keep an unbroken pipe wrench in main inventory (not buried in nested bags or a car trunk).
4. Right-click the fixture → Plumb.
5. Test by filling a bottle or drinking; confirm the water level changes on the external source.

Shutoff timing: suggestion, not a hard gate

City water shutoff is a sandbox-timed event. Plumbing a sink to a rain collector does not require the shutoff to have already happened—you can plumb and test while municipal water still runs. The practical advice is only this: prove one barrel → one sink loop before you rely on it for post-shutoff survival. That reduces the “day 14 kitchen is technically outdoors” failure mode without turning “before shutoff” into a false rule.

1. Place one collector on an exposed roof tile.
2. Plumb one indoor sink with a pipe wrench.
3. Confirm Fill / Drink draws from the collector.
4. Only then expand into a multi-barrel roof array.

Water safety

Assume outdoor rain collectors store tainted water until you purify it.

• Boil in a heat-safe pot/kettle on a stove, campfire, or barbecue (prefer ventilated or outdoor heat).
• Water Purification Tablets are a vanilla chemical path on B42.19—use them on non-empty fluid items rather than inventing a filter mod requirement.
• Use tainted water for plants, cleaning, and non-drink tasks; keep purified bottles as the drinking reserve.
• A plumbed sink is convenience only—it does not sanitize the source.

Off-screen filling

On Build 42.19, exposed outdoor collectors keep filling with rain even when you are not standing next to them. If a barrel never fills, fix exposure (true outside tile, lid open on large barrels) and wait for real weather first—do not assume the feature is broken after a short dry stretch.

Older unstable builds had plumbing and off-screen fill quirks. If you are on an ancient save that still misbehaves after an update, re-test Plumb on a fresh collector → sink pair, or re-place the fixture. Current expectation on 42.19: off-screen fill for correctly exposed collectors.

Mods that extend lateral piping or multi-room plumbing can help base design, but they are optional. Vanilla B42.19 already supports roof collector → indoor fixture with a pipe wrench. Confirm any Workshop mod against your exact 42.19 build before relying on it in multiplayer.

Numbers at a glance

• Small crate: Woodwork 3 · 400 L · rain factor 0.4 · 4 planks / 4 nails / 4 bags or 1 tarp · +30 XP
• Large barrel: Woodwork 5 · 600 L · rain factor 0.25 · 6 planks / 5 nails / 4 bags or 1 tarp · +50 XP
• Plumb: Pipe Wrench in main inventory · collector higher floor · indoor fixture · test Fill / Drink
• Safety: rain is tainted · boil or tablets · plumbing does not purify

FAQ

Related guides

• How to make and use a rain collector (full recipe lab)
• Rainwater plumbing lab
• Restore power and water
• Carpentry tips and leveling